Lacklustre Displays: London Powerhouses’ Performances In The 2022/23 League Campaign

The 2022/23 Premier League season for the top London clubs was poised to be an equally positive one, looking at how the trio clubs ended the 21/22 season.

Arsenal for one had a very strong finish to the 2021/22 season, although they were a bit unlucky not to make Champions League qualifications. The Gunners’ ambition became more laudable after Edu Gasper and Mikel Arteta ochertstaed one of the best summer businesses for the club, in recent years. Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur too weren’t left behind, as both teams did well to get a handful of reinforcements.

For the Blues, the transition of ownership from Roman Abramovic to Todd Boehly didn’t impede the club’s transfer businesses, although it did put a big question mark on Boehly’s transfer policies, looking at the calibre and relevancy of the players he got.

Even more could be said about Spurs who did the unusual by throwing their full weight behind Antonio Conte in the summer. For a club that starved Mauricio Pochettino, Nuno Espirito Santo and Jose Mourinho of signings, it was unequivocally evident that the club’s hierarchy erred on the side of players’ recruitment.

However, for all the strides these trio made before the season kick-started, why and how are they underachievers in the season proper?

Complacent Arsenal 

Certainly, Mikel Arteta and his growing squad did a great and magnificent job in opening their season. In fact, one couldn’t have envisaged that level of concentration, and high momentum from the side, in a league where Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are known to be dictating proceedings.

For the first time since 2004, the Gunners were within touching distance of their first Premier League title and would have laid a strong claim on it, if only they could have done enough to keep Manchester City at bay.

Despite the outcome of that mission being widely known, it is important to acknowledge that Arsenal’s exceptional performance led many to believe they had secured the title. However, post-World Cup struggles, coupled with the intensity from Guardiola’s City knocked the “lonely at the top” folks off their perch at the number 1 spot.

For a team who spent about 247 nights on the league’s summit and also got bundled out of all other cup competitions to focus more on the PL, bottling up the title was an appalling development, even for Arsenal.

After dropping crucial points in their 2-2 draw against West Ham United, Roy Keane said: “They’ve been top of the table all season. It would be a terrible season (if they didn’t win the league). They’re out of every cup competition. 2-0 up this week, 2-0 up today. It’s a huge disappointment.”

That disappointment festered more as the season’s curtains beckoned, and the only thing Arsenal could boost off was a Champions League finish (which could be due to the fact that Liverpool and Chelsea were completely out of sorts) after a thunderbolt opening to the season.

“The problem Arsenal have had is they’ve got complacent, they’ve got cocky,” said Jamie Carragher back in March after the inevitable was becoming increasingly apparent.

Mediocre Spurs

Dubbed the most unserious club amongst the traditional big six teams in England due to their ambitionless MOD, Tottenham Hotspur did well to uphold this legacy in the just-completed season, yet again.

Perhaps, the management of the team had hoped for a productive season, after backing Antonio Conte reasonably in the summer, but the light of their hopes started to flicker when the Italian manager resulted in tantrums and whines when the PL’s intensity started wearing out on him.

Things became more tense at Spurs after an internal crisis occurred, with Conte tearing into the culture of the club, blaming the club’s lack of a winning mentality and its “selfish” players for its silverware drought, after a 3-3 draw against relegation-bound Southampton. Eventually, the Italian manager’s departure from the club on mutual consent all but confirmed a dismal season for the North London side.

Winning trophies wasn’t an option for Spurs, but losing European spots to Liverpool (who had a slow start to the season), and mid-table clubs in Brighton and Aston Villa beggars the question if the club is really a worthy inclusion in the “top 6 clubs in England” category.

Shambolic Chelsea

If four different professional coaches couldn’t have saved a face for Chelsea in the 22/23 season, then “shambolic” might be an understatement.

From the premature sack of Thomas Tuchel to the unmerited acquisition of Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor’s short stint and Frank Lampard’s ruination run — Chelsea has never had it tougher in recent years.

Without being told, Boehly and other Chelsea stakeholders know the hasty sack of Thomas Tuchel was the beginning of the misery that rocked Stamford Bridge. Realistically, there was enough time to salvage something out of their season (after all, Liverpool did), but Boehly’s reluctance in sacking an obviously clueless Potter nailed their damnation.

One year, over £600m spent on 17 players’ recruitment, 4 managers and 12th place league finish — saying Chelsea’s owners should shoulder the larger chunk of the blame for the club’s appalling outing isn’t far-fetched.

Possible Remedies For These Clubs Ahead Of The 23/24 Season

For Arsenal, all that’s needed for the club is to consolidate on the 22/23 season (a season that would’ve been a great one, if they didn’t bottle the league to City in that manner).

Looking at the current crop of players at Arteta’s disposal, most of them are young players who haven’t reached their peak, and if they could have pulled a performance of this calibre with their level of experience, the future promises to be brighter if geared in the right direction.

Perhaps the Gunners are done licking their wounds, judging by the fact that they’ve acted swiftly in renewing the contacts of their trusted goal contributors (Gabriel Martinelli & Bukayo Saka), which is in fact a great development.

Evidently, the recruitments of experienced players like Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus, Jorginho and Leandro Trossard helped geared the Gunners in the right trajectory, so it’s only advisable they continue with the youthful plus experienced-blend squad balance ahead of their summer business.

Managerless Spurs on the other hand have to make sure they get the appointment of a permanent coach right this time, or they could even be doomed to a season more woeful than the just concluded one.

Also putting into perspective that they could lose one of the best players in their history, Harry Kane to top European clubs, the club’s boards have their work cut for them as regards transfers.

Getting the right manager and working with him to get the players that’ll suit his system is the first big step in remedying a mediocre 22/23 PL season for Spurs.

Luckily for Chelsea, they’ve partly solved their managerial crisis with the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino, but a lot still has to be done to get the club back to its glory days.

Known to have worked wonders with Spurs, making the club a mainstay in the top four of a very competitive Premier League, Porch might just be the knight in the shining armour for the Blues. No doubt he isn’t going to have it rosy, but if Chelsea’s board works hand-in-hand with the Argentine as regards the transfer of players in and out of the club, he’s going to come good for Chelsea’s long-term project, not forgetting the fact that he’s well versed about the EPL.